Please, Respond to My Rhythm!

To be honest, the gameplay itself isn't actually that difficult.

On the contrary, it is very intuitive, and most of the time, playing it involves reflexes.

The only places where you really need to use your brain are when it comes to equipment and formation combinations.

As the saying goes, when God closes a door, He opens a window.

Just like those blind people who have unfortunately lost their sight, many of them will have some enhancement in their hearing and touch.

The minimalist visuals of Patapon seem to make good use of this.

The human brain's efficiency in processing information is extremely limited.

It's just like a CPU.

With limited performance, if you want to focus on one thing, you need to let go of other things for now.

The minimalist visuals completely free up the player's visual time.

This part of the content was not wasted; instead, it was all poured into the auditory system in one go.

To be precise, it gave rise to a rhythm. "Whoosh--"

Ella let out a long breath and listened intently to the rhythm of the background music.

This is the fourth time she has lost a combo due to poor timing.

She thought that once she memorized this simple instruction, the rest wouldn't be complicated.

But it's clear that my thinking was too simplistic.

"Bang! Bang! Patapon!"

She practically chanted the rhythm to herself as she precisely pressed the corresponding buttons.

To be honest, while Ella doesn't play a lot of games, she's not completely ignorant about the gaming world.

In the video game industry, there has always been a set of unwritten rules, or rather, a set of standards for evaluation.

That's responsiveness.

When an action is pressed, will the game respond immediately? Will there be any delay? Will any commands be missed?

Back in the days of the King of Fighters, Gamenova excelled in responsiveness thanks to its pre-input command system. The input was incredibly smooth, with virtually no sense of mismatched moves.

Thanks to excellent optimization, even input delays are almost imperceptible.

It is precisely because of this unparalleled smoothness that Gamenova has been able to produce another top-tier title in the fighting game subgenre.

Since then, thanks to the trendsetting design of Gamenova, the industry has begun to consider the responsiveness of controls as an important factor.

Even today, manufacturers continue to innovate and optimize their input systems, striving to create a smoother input experience that surpasses others.

but...

Patapon seems to be determined to defy this rule.

Instant response?

Please, that's so boring!

You have to input the command precisely in four-four beats to complete an operation.

The player is not a Patapon, but a god who issues commands from the heavens.

What I can do is not control, but guide. It's somewhat like the idea of God simulating a scenario.

Leaving aside other operations, even just wanting the Patapons to move requires typing the complete string "pata pata pata pon".

That is, the combination of four keys.

If you make a mistake or the rhythm is off, the Patapons will not understand God's will.

For a game packaged as "real-time combat," this design should have been extremely fatal.

Because it lost its sense of control.

But the reality is quite the opposite.

Ella showed no annoyance at the delay in controls; on the contrary, she was completely hooked on the gameplay.

"Is that Spear of Protection Pon over there? Keep it up!"

She saw a Patapon lying on the ground not far away, clutching a long spear; she guessed it was the "Spear of Protection Pon" mentioned in the previous instructions.

That's right, we only have one person holding the flag here right now. When I watched the music video, I saw that this game had combat gameplay.

We can't do without these soldiers. "Pata pata pata pon!"

As she perfectly timed her hit once again, the UI displaying the combo count in the upper left corner suddenly flashed, changing from black to red, and began to wriggle.

The words "xx combo" have disappeared, replaced by a row of large gold characters.

[fever!!] (frenzy)

The flagpole, too, shouted the same "fever--" in its childlike voice.

With that sound, Ella suddenly got goosebumps all over.

Because in that very instant, the entire music level rose, became more intense, and fuller!

The chanting, which originally consisted only of the flag bearer's own voice, now seemed to have gained a bit of reverberation.

You could vaguely hear that Spear of Protection Pon who had just joined the group, was also singing along.

Combined with its unique reverb delay effect, the room was instantly filled with the sounds of voices, like a choir.

This feeling is truly wonderful and hard to describe in words.

It's not fun, or rather, not just simple fun. Nor does it have the smooth, combo-like feel of falling-note rhythm games.

This is a very peculiar... feedback adjustment.

It's like... it's like Ella is completely in sync with the game.

It's no longer her following the rhythm and pressing the instructions.

Rather, she was completely synchronized, even the process of receiving information through the ears was completely omitted.

There was not even a millisecond of delay; it was true human-machine integration, with the rhythm perfectly synchronized.

It was this blissful feeling of spiritual communion that gave her goosebumps all over, and her heartbeat, synchronized with the rhythm of the game, pounded against her chest.

It's a pity that there are only two Patapons in the team now, lacking that grand feeling of "All troops, obey orders!"

It's easy to foresee just how exhilarating it will be to have such a powerful and influential presence once the team grows larger.

The whole world is responding to my rhythm!

Every time Ella presses "pata", the newly joined Spear of Protection Pon in the team swing their spears left and right in rhythm.

It was like a primitive tribe performing a war dance. And with all three Spear of Protection Pon successfully rejoining the team, the first level was easily passed.

A classic example of progressive guidance.

Instead of revealing all the game's controls at once, an entire level was dedicated to teaching the player just one command.

That is, --pata pata pata pon!

Go ahead!

The sole purpose of the entire level is to imprint this damn brainwashing tune firmly into the player's mind.

And it did succeed.

Even now that the music has stopped and switched to a more soothing transitional piece.

But for some reason, Ella still felt a buzzing echo in her ears, "Pata pata pata pon!"

I can't forget it, I just can't forget it!

This is probably what they mean by "a demonic sound piercing the brain."

But... no one would have thought that such a brainwashing tune would be found in "Patapon" even more.

The second stage.

[Song of Battle]

[pon pon pata pon!]

Ella was taken aback.

She had expected a new drum to appear, just like before.

Surprisingly, it's still pata and pon, only this time the arrangement has changed.

It became Blue Drum Pon that took the lead.

But what remains unchanged is... its catchy melody.

"Pon pon pata pon!"

This drum kit has a more tribal feel compared to the previous marching chants. You can hear a unique drumbeat that sounds like it's neither Latin America nor Africa.

The African drumbeats are crisp, clean, and delicate.

Ella mentally repeated the tune, then pressed the keys.

pon pon pata pon!

Several Patapon people repeated it, chanting it aloud.

Then, the three Spear of Protection Pon raised their spears high and hurled them at the brick wall blocking the way.

Just like the name of this instruction.

This is the [Song of Battle], its purpose being to command the warriors to launch an attack.

One is a marching chant, the other an attack chant.

It's like getting a weapon in a horror game; the implications are self-evident.

The real game is about to begin!

... Once you get hooked, you become ruthless, lose yourself, and become reckless!

For over an hour, Ella did nothing else but keep typing out these brainwashing tunes.

Don't be fooled by how simple the gameplay looks.

But the deeper Ella goes into the game, the more surprises she gets.

Can you believe that each small PON can be individually equipped?

Although the improvements are mostly numerical, they lack the equipment-driven fun of Diablo.

But this gameplay brought back memories of the Fire Emblem era, when she was equipping each character in her party.

It truly has a unique flavor.

Not to mention the addition of various new troop types.

This seems to be the kind of formation gameplay you'd find in old-school crp games.

She had to decide which units to place in the front, which in the middle, and which at the back.

Now that she's played for a while, her team is no longer as poor as it was at the beginning, with only three Spear of Protection Pon. The lineup of Spear of Protection Pon has expanded to a full five.

Standing in the front row were shield bearers, pon, wielding shields and axes; as the name suggests, those in the front row were definitely reliable.

As for the last one in the list, it's the bow and arrow, which was only recently unlocked.

According to the game's description, these Pom can evolve into rarer Pokémon -like creatures as the game progresses.

It's as if Gamenova has cleverly combined its past project experience.

Even the gameplay of farming equipment and materials shows glimpses of Diablo, which was released not long ago.

In a sense, this gameplay, which relies on unlocking new mechanics or content to keep progressing, has a bit of Castlevania feel to it.

The same level, played again with different configurations, can provide a completely different experience.

Rocksmith, Pokémon, Diablo, Castlevania, Command & Conquer, Fire Emblem...

Ella wouldn't dare call it a "masterpiece" or anything like that.

Because it truly failed to perfectly integrate the soul of those works.

But it is indeed a very cleverly stitched piece. It feels completely natural and seamless, without any sense of incongruity.

"Huh? The next level will unlock a new drum? Looks like new commands are finally coming..."

Ella was about to begin when her mother's voice came from the direction of the restaurant.

"Kids, finish your meal before you play!"

Her shouts, the aroma of dinner, and the darkness outside the window pulled Ella back to reality.

"Call--"

Ella got up from the sofa and stretched vigorously.

She had been sitting there for so long that her body had become a little stiff.

"That's wonderful..."

She glanced at the game screen one last time with reluctance before carefully saving her game and shutting down the computer.

Her younger brother Allen, was already seated at the table before her.